Open mat BJJ worked with a purple and a white belt who is in the cusp of the blue belt. Rolled for an hour and half rotating between us for 10-15 min rounds, the pace on a Sunday is chill and a good time to work on my many weak areas.

Everyone knows that Leo's top and passing game is good, well today we covered some of his concepts for this, basically it revolves around making the person so uncomfortable he either gives you the position or submission, he says Jiu Jitsu is for lazy people lol. when attacking the neck, don't be nice jam your hand in there and squeeze, basically what Damien Maia did in his last fight. the pressure he gives from the mount is unreal, its all you can do to breath, we covered mount and side control using underhooks to create the pressure and then passed the half guard using something similar. he says passing guard is alot like finishing the double leg.

Can't wait for day 2 tomorrow, which is going to based around the bottom game.

The stuff he does is so simple and non-flashy its almost silly, its damn effective though.

... the pressure he gives from the mount is unreal, its all you can do to breath, we covered mount and side control using underhooks to create the pressure

Does he grapevine the legs from Mount?

No, he keeps his knees close and feet tucked under the butt, and underhooking the arms, climbing the knees up to a high mount gaining a gift wrap position, basically he talks about maintaining control, until he decides to move then inch up into better control - old school/classic BJJ.

Covered passing the guard, again no flashy jumpy stuff just solid weight and pressure waiting for the correct timing for the pass, using double leg control when possible. Three positions to use when passing, used in conjunction, with persistance and pressure will succeed, opening the elbows to control the opponent - it really was some excellent stuff! He also talked about why he became a top player/guard passer, he says that he looked at everyone who played guard and noticed that had blown knees and backs, he was a purple belt at the time and noticed his knees where already sore - so this was the time when he decided to change his game and become the Leo we know off today!

There was a whole bunch of promotions handed out, non for me that's the last chance for me this year! So another goal failed lol. Really don't know what I need to do to seal the deal other than keep showing up, but when you consider I teach the kids class and clean the mats I'm already on the mat 7 days a week.

BJJ, was asked to take the class on short notice, i.e. whilst I was getting changed, not ideal preparation! So I went through the overhook series from closed guard lapel choke, armbar, omoplata, shoulder lock and triangle. Basic stuff, but its solid enough for a short notice class.

Done the above 5 times, with 120 secs rest. I was tired today and this sucked balls, trained jiu jitsu everyday this week 6 days in a row - probably explains it.

Fluff:

2 x 8 chins - nice and high chest well over the bar on each rep
1x 30 rows on jungle gym, squeeze at top for 2 secs
1x 15/15 side bends using 2 x20 kg bells
2 mins neck bridge front and back
Pistol practice x some

BJJ, covered some of the stuff we did in the Leo seminar, honestly the stuff we covered still amazes me, its so simple its stupid - a game changer for me for sure, Ricardo's game couldn't be anymore different and I like that too, but Leo's seems like a path to training till your 100.

BJJ, worked on some side control escapes that Leo taught to my coach who went to another 3 day camp following our last seminars with him. Again it's awesome and extremely solid stuff, basics refined to a high degree.

BJJ, class was all sparring, from time to time the coach in his wisdom deems it necessary for us to roll for the whole class, so after warmups we did 10 minute rounds 9 rounds in total as there was an odd number so someone had to rest. I loved the class even though it was hard graft, an effort in endurance, resolve, technique and energy conservation and also timing, one timing for every move.

KBM

week 4 heavy day:

This was hard after the mornings training, but I peresvered as I'm enjoying the program - its idiot proof.

BJJ open mat, rolled with a newly promoted purple belt for an hour, was good fun I hit a couple of nice passes and sweeps especially the omoplata I really need to work this more because it works well for me - otherwise it was an even and fun roll.

Zak, nice to see you training consistently, both weights and BJJ. I never got my purple belt, but I saw a lot of TOP notch guys get promoted slowly, so don't give up, a lot of the guys I was a blue with are browns now, but I get to surf so it's an okay trade-off.

Bram wrote:Haha, I know what you mean, it's because you care about it I'm sure.

If you ever come to San Diego, send me a message and I'll take you out in the water (kids too if you bring them).

Thanks Bram, you never know someday I may make it to the US and take you up on that offer.

Fat Cat wrote:That's awesome that you are training with Leozinho, he's the king. Also, do not be discouraged; for perspective, I was a blue belt for 8 years 1999-2006.

Thanks Fat Cat, I really am lucky getting the chance to train with Leo, Ricardo etc, I really like Ricardo's style but Leo's makes a lot more sense to me. Thanks for perspective, It's a good reminder to have faith in my coach and team as well as a test of character, that's one of the things I like about jiu jitsu, there's no hiding on the mat.

KBM week 5

light Day:

Dbl swing x 5
Dbl snatch x 5
See saw press x 5/5

x 6 through the above complex with 75 mins rest between each

BJJ: the main professor is away so the class was taken by a brown belt, we covered the darce today, which is not my thing but its cool to do stuff that doesn't fit well with my t-rex arms. Sparring was good until some roided out white belt tried to kill me, in response I swept and knee rode him into submission several times - not nice or responsible but I felt it was justified at the time.

Sunday club BJJ, rolled for an hour non-stop with a good blue belt. Keeping it playful with Sunday training so I am getting dominated which is sometimes psychologically hard as I'm being either submitted are put in difficult positions. I firmly believe this is the way forward to improve my BJJ, its also fun and I'm getting the feeling of good timing for escapes and sweeps because the pace is slower overall rather than the quicker pace of full rolling it's easier to detect the subtle shift in balance.

One other day in the week I have been rolling much, much faster like Marcelo says to in his video in the training forum - its hard work.

I am definitely taking charge of my own improvement in BJJ, there is a lot to be said for just turning up and training, but I feel like that may only get you so far, I have to look at how jiu jitsu works for me and be honest with my weaknesses and separate my ego from the matter. I may be wrong and I'm definitely not going to micro analyse things, but be more mindful when I'm training.